What do you need to know about Family Day Care?

In Home Quality Care / Family Day Care

Family day care is an approved form of child care that is provided in the family day care educator’s own home. Family day care educators are early childhood education and care professionals, registered with a family day care service such as Excellence In Care Scheme.

Family Day Care offers parents the assurance of a safe, stimulating and enjoyable environment for their children. Care is available for children from as young as six weeks of age. Family Day Care is the perfect solution for parents whose care needs require a more flexible arrangement than standard day care. Excellence in Care Family Day Care offers, overnight and weekend care, on top of the standard Monday to Friday schedule. This helps provide support to parents and families, including those who do shift work, or travel.

Family Day Care provides a small group setting for children. We enforce strict guidelines regarding the number of children that may be placed within a care environment.

Our structured learning environment allows children to learn through play and exploration within a small home based setting. Educators work with the coordination unit and parents to plan a stimulating routine for your child. Through activities such as storytelling, arts and crafts, singing, playing games and social interactions with other family day care children, a schedule will be constructed that enhances learning and social skills.

Each educator undertakes rigorous pre-service training and background training prior to commencement within Family Day Care. Strict national requirements are in place to guarantee that each Educator is fully insured, are in possession of a current Blue Card and have a current Senior First Aid certificate which includes training on Asthma and Anaphylaxis management. In addition, Excellence In Care provides regular ongoing training and support to ensure our Educators offer parents the highest level of quality care.

National Quality Framework

As part of the national child care framework, our Family Day Care Educators abide by state licensing, national standards, individual scheme policies and Family Day Care Quality Assurance Guidelines to ensure that the quality of care is of the highest standard.

Quality assurance within family day care is governed by the ACECQA (The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority). As part of these national requirements all Family Day Care Educators must hold or be actively studying a Certificate III in Children’s Services.

We support the ongoing training and formal study of our Educators. Many hold Diploma’s in Children Services and have many years experience within childcare environments, which enables us to care for your child’s unique needs.

Assessment of services

All services approved under the Education and Care Services National Law are assessed and rated by their state or territory regulatory authority.Services are assessed against the 7 quality areas of the National Quality Standard (NQS) and given an overall rating based on these results.

Excellence In Care Family Day Care Scheme have undergone an assessment and rating on the 1st November 2013.

Costs associated with Family Day Care

Family Day Care provides an affordable child care option for parents. Prices for care are set by Educators, within relevant government regulations. The cost of care is charged based on an hourly rate.

The Excellence in Care Family Day Care scheme is an approved childcare provider. As such, parents may be able to claim the Australian Government Child Care Benefit (CCB), Australian Government Childcare Rebate (CCR) and Tax Benefits, where applicable.

The Australian Government offers several initiatives to assist parents with the cost of childcare. You should speak to Centrelink or the Family Assistance Office to discuss your individual entitlement to these benefits.

What you need to know about Excellence in Care?

Our Coordinator Unit is the central hub for the Excellence in Care Family Day Care scheme. We are available to provide vital information, resources, assistance and advice to both Families and Educators alike.

It is our role to provide support to parents by matching your children with one of our many qualified Family Day Care Educators. We also are responsible for the communication between parents, Educators and the Australian Government on all matters relating to the processing of applicable childcare benefits.

In addition to this, Excellence In Care provides continuous assistance to parents on matters such as

Child Development

Behaviour Management

Health Matters

Excellence in Care also assists parents in the arrangement of alternative care when needed. For example, if your Family Day Care Educator is on holidays or ill, Excellence in Care will work to provide alternative care.

Excellence in Care now has over 90 Educators within the surrounding suburbs to offer parents willing to choose Family Day Care

What to expect: Enrolment process with Excellence in Care Day Care

If you have made the decision that Family Day Care is the right childcare option for your child and family, now is the time to contact us and start the enrolment process.

To commence the enrolment process, we will require you to complete our online Request for Care form. Upon receipt of this completed form, our staff will match your child’s details with one of our available Educators based on your information and requirements.

After which, we will arrange a meeting between parent, child and Educator to discuss the care arrangement. This meeting allows us to identify any special requirements your child may have, dietary requirements, custodial arrangements, allergies or cultural requirements that the Family Day Care Educator will need to be made aware of.

If both parents and educators are pleased with the suitability and quality of the placement, care can commence, when all paperwork is completed.

What our parents have to say:

Parent Testimonials

Eloise wrote:
Melissa is warm and engaging and delivers a quality family day care service. Her home is well equipped with a range of toys to stimulate children of various ages and offers a safe and comfortable environment. My son started with Melissa when he was 9 months old and he is always content and in good spirits when I pick him up, indicating he has had an enjoyable, stress free day. Melissa also text messages photos and video updates through the day and records learning activities in individual folders for each child. She is enthusiastic and undertakes a range of activities with the children e.g., walks around the lake, indoor play centre excursions, play dates, arts and crafts. I would highly recommend Melissa's Family Day Care.

Michelle wrote: Zoe provides the most wonderful service and really cares about the individual needs of each child and provides a warm, educational and exciting environment for the children. My son flourished and made so much progress whilst having Zoe as his teacher and I can never thank her enough for the care she provided to my little boy and also the great communication and support she gave me. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Zoe.

Jody wrote:My children have been at Ann's Family Day Care in Ormeau for nearly ten years. During that time, Ann has always provided excellent care in a safe and friendly environment. My children treat her like a second Mum and love visiting her house as she provides a wide variety of fun and educational resources to occupy their time.

Melissa wrote: It is with great pleasure that I provide this testimonial for Ann, our Family Daycare Provider. Highly recommended to me by local mums Ann was described as "great with Kids". Never was a truer word spoken! Children love Ann and my girls who have been in her care for the last five years are no exception, seeing her more as a member of their extended family than just "the daycare mum". They often express their immense disappointment if it is not their day to be in her care, and regularly ask us to go out for the evening so they can have a sleepover with Ann. Ann is very experienced, having raised four children of her own, and provides a fun, family atmosphere with plenty of well structured, age appropriate activities to keep everyone busy. We have found her to possess seemingly endless patience even through teething, toilet training, toddler tantrums and intermittent sleep patterns! More like a friend than a care provider, Ann always goes the extra mile, without complaint, often at short notice and not always at her convenience. I would have no hesitation in recommending Ann to anyone wanting exemplary care for their children, we couldn't be happier with the service she provides.

Lisa wrote: EIC Educator has been a family day care mum for my 2 girls over the last 3 months. The transition into a new family day care home was made most welcoming for my girls at a time I thought would prove to be somewhat difficult. However, Educator welcomed my girls with open arms and has invited them into her life. On some occasions during the week my girls don't even want to come home so that is always a good sign of them having a good day!! Both my girls are enjoying going to day care, and enjoying the activities and learning experiences that Educator is providing everyday. They are always letting me know what they have learnt at day care today - the car ride home is always an interesting one. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Educator or her Scheme to anyone looking to place their children into Family Day Care. Kind Regards, Lisa - Khyala (6yrs) & Brianna's (4yrs).